Every weekend, college students pack into houses, bars and night clubs to wind down from the week and socialize with friends. Many of them will knock back a couple of beers, shots or mixed drinks, and as soon as they begin to feel themselves loosen up, they begin to lose some sense of reality.

Last call comes all too soon, and as the students begin to stream out of the clubs or bars, the question arises among the groups of friends that arrived together, "Who's going to drive home?"

This vital question could mean life or death to the students themselves or to someone else on the road, totally unaware that they are about to share the road with a drunk driver.

Several students said that young people tend to have the mentality that "it won't happen to me."

One African-American studies senior said many people don't think anything will happen to them because it's usually only a short drive home.

"People think, 'What could I run into in a 10-minute drive?'" he said.

Chris Roman Nose, an OU freshman, agreed that every person has that mentality when they drink and drive because everyone knows the consequences of drinking and driving.

Roman Nose also said people have that mentality because they haven't had any personal experiences with alcohol.

"A lot of students have that mentality because they drink and drive a dozen times, and nothing happens," he said. "But what happens if one their friends dies?"

While most students who drink and drive often do not get caught or get into a car accident, due to the decisions made by those who drank and drove in 2003, 255 Oklahomans lost their lives in alcohol-related traffic accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In 2003, drivers between the ages of 21 and 24 were most likely to be intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater in fatal car crashes and 32 percent of drivers 21 to 24 involved in fatal crashes were intoxicated.

just one of the many

Andrea Beth Doyle was one of those 255 Oklahomans who lost their lives in 2003, and the woman who hit her is sitting in jail, awaiting an April 11 trial on a first-degree manslaughter charge.

Doyle was a senior at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and lived about 25 miles away in Stilwell.

With her blue eyes, red hair and slim figure, Doyle was bold, upfront, feisty, a little bit sassy and enjoyed life and people, said Rhonda Doyle, Andrea Doyle's mother.

Andrea Doyle was an honor roll student at NSU and was preparing for her senior year of college with a major in management information systems. At 21, Doyle wasn't like most college students. While most of her friends and Delta Zeta sorority sisters attended parties and drank, she was the sorority's designated driver.

She was also deeply involved with the NSU campus and the coordinator of several drunk-driving prevention events. In 2001, for NSU's Safe Spring event, Doyle coordinated a mock car accident with a life-flight helicopter.

"It is ironic to us that Andrea worked to prevent the very thing that killed her," said Ernest Doyle, Andrea's father.

Although Andrea Doyle attended NSU on a scholarship, she worked the night shift at Wal-Mart as a customer service manager from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Before midnight on July 21, 2003, she was asked if she would mind going home early so she could return the next morning to work the day shift.

Doyle left Wal-Mart around midnight. As she was driving home east on two-lane Highway 51, a sport utility vehicle traveling in the opposite direction collided with Doyle's 1991 Chrysler.

The driver of the SUV was 19 years old at the time of the accident, and she was on her way home from a party. She was intoxicated.

Ernest Doyle said the accident report stated that the driver of the SUV was going about 83 miles per hour when she hit his daughter. The impact caused both cars to flip, pinning both drivers in their vehicles.

Doyle's car landed on its top, which trapped her from the shoulders down. It took the paramedics more than an hour and a half to extract her from the vehicle.

Doyle was conscious after the car wreck long enough to tell the paramedics her name. She was helicoptered two hours away to Tulsa's Saint Francis Hospital.

life-changing phone call

The Doyles received a phone call from the hospital around 3 a.m., notifying them that their daughter had been in a car crash and was not expected to live.

Andrea Doyle was alive for four hours after she was hit and died at 5:05 a.m.

The Doyles drove to Tulsa, but by the time they arrived, she was already dead.

Andrea Doyle's parents were allowed to see her body when they arrived.

"There was blood in her hair and on her teeth," Rhonda Doyle said. "A part of us died then too."

Their daughter's injuries to her face were so severe that her parents were only allowed to see the left side of her face.

"They had the right side of her face covered with a washcloth, but they said she had a nickel-size hole in the side of her head and that she suffered from brain hemorrhaging," Rhonda Doyle said. "Something punctured her right eye."

Doyle's other injuries consisted of a broken jaw bone, broken collar-bone, broken arms, broken lower ribs, a broken pelvis, a shattered right femur and a crushed ankle. The lower lobes of her lungs were also deflated.

a campaign for prevention

"We aren't vengeful people," Ernest Doyle said. "We just decided we're not going to crawl under the bed, whimper and take it. We've done a lot of things that are extreme, but we took a chance."

Ernest Doyle is referring to the trailer he takes around the area. He placed his daughter's mangled car on the trailer with a picture of his daughter on the side of it with the statement: "In loving Memory of Andrea Doyle, Killed by a drunk driver. Please don't drink and drive."

Rhonda Doyle said that when she first saw her daughter's car, she was stunned that the wreck didn't kill her daughter instantly. The vehicle was twisted and crushed so badly that it was impossible to determine what kind of car it had been.

Since Andrea worked for Wal-Mart, the store allows Ernest Doyle to park the car and trailer in the parking lot for everyone to see.

future taken away

Now, the feisty, red-haired college student who dreamt of receiving an MIS degree, working with computers, getting married and having a big family will never have the chance to experience any of those things.

"Our reality is that Andrea is never coming back," Rhonda Doyle said. "There's never going to be a college graduation, a wedding or grandchildren. My daughter received a death sentence, and our family received a life sentence of pain."

What the Doyles will miss the most about their daughter are the little things, but the little things meant the world to them.

"I miss talking to her," Rhonda Doyle said. "I miss the small things, like her future plans, but mainly just talking to her."

Ernest Doyle said it's hard to put into words what he misses the most about his daughter.

"It doesn't bother me that much to just break down and cry," said Ernest Doyle, his voice cracking with emotion. "I just miss her. I see her pictures, and it's hard for me."
hello there & you too